Beer: Ratings & Reviews

Reviews by beerdrifter:

Picked this up at a great little beer store in Arlon, Belgium, Miorge Mihoublon. Hazy yellow-amber pour with a one and a half finger head with decent retention and nice lacing. The nose is surprisingly bready and malty at first, but quickly yielded to a full blown West Coast IPA. Loads of piney, resiny hops along with hints of citrus, grass, grapefruit, and caramel. The taste goes to an even bigger and bolder level. Very fresh, juicy, resiny deliciousness! Tons of mouth-puckering citrusy hops with hints of tangerine, grapefruit, caramel, orange peel, and grass. With that said, there's a perfect amount of sweetness from the malts to tame this 409 IBU hop bomb. The mouthfeel is zesty and crisp with a nice oily and resiny bitter finish. Totally drinkable considering the 9.2% ABV and the 409 IBU's. Overall, this was a total surprise. I only picked this up thanks to the suggestion of the owner. I've already emailed him and asked him to set aside more for my next beer run. I read that this was their attempt to replicate Pliny the Elder. Pretty damn close!

More User Reviews:

Squat Italian-style craft 330ml bottle purchased from Slowbeer in Melbourne. This is a collaboration between Opperbacco, Foglie d'Erba and Dada, weighing in at 9.2% ABV and 409 IBU.

Pours is a very deep orange colour, with a very heavy haze. Head is a fine but filmy and bubble-riddled affair. Some solid lace, forming decent patches. Thick, juicy body, with a lots of fine languorous carbonation. Looks good.

Taste is similar. Big, oily hop presence throughout, always backed up by enough malt to provide support and balance. The hop flavours are very strong, however, and run right through fragrant and spicy to the other end of the spectrum: biting, cutting, resin and pine—almost antiseptic in the mouth. So while it doesn't feel unbalanced, it does have a very intense flavour profile.

Feel is very smooth and fine. Very creamy carbonation—it's smooth and very pleasant.

Overall, this is definitely good stuff. It could use more nuanced complexity to it, especially on the palate: rather than just going for intensity, there's a structure that could help it. But despite this, it's very nice stuff. Big, flavoursome and exciting: there's nothing wrong with that.

Like the label guys. Funky. Also like the realistic dating (05/13, which suggests it was only dated 6 months after its manufacturing date). Refreshing as a lot of the time the Australian consumer gets the exclusive pleasure of ridiculous 2+ year datings on IPAs and the like.

Pours an orange colour. Good head and lacing.

Wow, first sniff is not what I expected. Malt bomb. Like a decadent dopplebock or salted caramel pudding with how much malt aroma comes oozing out. Hey, just had to check this DIPA was from Italy and not Australia.

It's a classy, smooth and decadent honeyed malt aroma.

No bones about it, this is a great malt smell and virtually indistinguishable from an American Barleywine. And there are hops there. You just need to sniff a bit for them. They lend their distinctive notes of tropical fruits, pine and, well...hops. Maybe a bit of weed like the beer it supposedly takes its inspiration from.

Taste is a carryover of the aroma. Continues the scorched malt taste and provides more tropical hops and pine slightly backstage.

Mouthfeel is thick and bitter.

Good beer but far closer to an American Barleywine than a DIPA. Absolutely nothing at all like Pliny the Elder, the beer it was supposedly based on. Still good for what it is. I'd probably place it closer to Avery Maharajah in the malt bombshell stakes.